More than £2m has been paid out by Transport for London (TfL) in pothole-related compensation claims over the last three years.
The transport authority, which is responsible for maintaining London’s busiest arterial roads, awarded the money in response to 35 successful claims between 2021 and 2024.
A total of £1.68m was awarded in the 2022/23 financial year for 12 claims, a significant rise on the £305,000 paid in compensation for 13 claims the previous year. Just £85,000 was paid out for 10 claims in 2023/24.
The new statistics, published in response to a Freedom of Information request, also showed that the total number of pothole claims received by TfL in 2023/24 reached 229. This was up from 161 in 2022/23.
TfL reported a rise in potholes recorded on its road network from 804 in 2021/22 to 945 in 2022/23, but said it was unable to access figures for 2023/24 due to last year’s cyber-attack on the organisation.
The data was first reported by the BBC. Rod Dennis, the RAC motoring group's safety spokesman, told the broadcaster: “With pothole compensation claims up 42 per cent year-on-year, these figures are a stark reminder that poor local road conditions continue to burn a hole in the budgets of local authorities and drivers.”
Only five per cent of London's roads are TfL's responsibility, with the rest being managed by borough councils. However, the relatively small number of roads maintained by TfL tend to be the capital’s busiest and most strategically important highways, such as the North and South Circular roads, the Victoria Embankment along the Thames, and the congestion charge boundary roads.
A TfL spokesperson said: “TfL has a very strong safety record for injuries caused by poor road surfaces.
“Our rigorous inspection and repair programme prevents thousands of injuries each year and any pothole reported that could cause injury is made safe within one, four or 24 hours of it being reported depending on its risk.
“We also make every effort to avoid potholes from occurring in the first place with our carriageway renewal.”
The FOI request also asked TfL for “the largest pothole, both in diameter and depth” recorded by the transport authority in each financial year, but the organisation said it did not have that information.
